Culinary Manuscripts and Rare Woodcuts in Books, Maps & Manuscripts Auction
Stockholms Auktionsverk
Cassell's Household Guide. Being a Complete Encyclopaedia of Domestic and Social Economy, and forming a Guide to Every Department of Practical Life. London, Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, no date (about 1900?). Estimate: 3,000 - 4,000 SEK
Stockholms Auktionsverk's upcoming auction features more than 300 items dating back to the 15th century including maps, travelogues, and numerous titles focusing on the wonders of cooking from the collection of Inga-Lill Skoog.
A total of 86 items from her library on the theme of food and husbandry will go under the hammer on December 7 including a collection of recipes dating back more than 300 years with titles such as "To cook Coffey", "Anna von der Noth's Wafers", and "To stew lobster".
"With this particular category of books, we notice that they reach a younger target group than we are used to," said Katharina Fahlstedt, Chief Curator of Books, Maps and Manuscripts at Stockholms Auktionsverk. Cookbooks are easy to get into, partly because they concern us all and are based on a topic that most people can relate to, but also because they evoke nostalgia. There is no escaping from the fact that nice images of beautiful layouts and table settings can be more accessible than for example a book on Nordic history from the 16th century written in Latin.”
There are also a number of remarkable atlases in the map section, including one of Russia that has provenance from Gustaf Nobel's library. This very rare, first edition was printed in St. Petersburg in 1745 and is the very first printed atlas of Russia. The youngest of the sons of Ludvig and Edla Nobel, Gustaf Nobel was based in Baku between 1914 and 1917 where his father and two older brothers, Alfred and Robert, founded the oil company The Nobel Brothers Company. Gustaf later took over as CEO of the family business but was forced to flee Russia in 1918 to escape the revolution.
A couple of hundred years before the rare atlas and Gustaf Nobel, a group of Russian travelers can be seen in the exquisitely detailed and rare print from 16th century Prague. It depicts Russian ambassadors from the court of Ivan IV on their way to meet the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II in Regensburg in 1576, where a long procession of noble men and priests arrive bearing gifts and precious furs. Later reproductions of the engraving, printed in the 19th century, can be seen in libraries and museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
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Stockholms Auktionsverk
Print from 16th century Prague depicting Russian ambassadors travlling from the court of Ivan IV. Estimate: 80,000 - 100,000 SEK.
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Stockholms Auktionsverk
Rare Russian atlas from the library Gustaf Nobel, St. Petersburg, 1745. Estimate: 180,000 - 200,000 SEK
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Stockholms Auktionsverk
Prayerbook, in Latin and German, decorated manuscript on paper 15th century, 195 leaves (including an original endleaf at each end). Estimate: 30,000 - 40,000 SE
“While we can't find any previous auction records for this rare print, we know that there are only a few copies worldwide," said Fahlstedt. "But the original late 16th century copies are rarely complete and often lack the last of the four pages on which it is printed, the page portraying an Orthodox service. Above all, it is a very early point in history to depict Russians in this way. They are dressed in their finest costumes and second in line is Prince Zakhary Sugorsky, former governor of Astrakhan, who, despite tradition, does not wear a beard.”
The woodcut is attributed to Donat Hübschmann, who worked closely with the emperor in the late 16th century, and sometimes to the Swiss-German artist Jost Amman. Hübschmann was born in Leipzig around 1540, worked as an engraver and printer, and died in Vienna in 1583.
The oldest lot is an illuminated manuscript in the form of a small prayer book written in Latin and German, probably in a small monastery in France in the late 15th century. It is not entirely complete but has beautiful illuminations and initial letters adorned in gold.
